Anmol Fankaar A website dedicated to artists of the Indian Subcontinent

O.P. Nayyar had no formal training in music yet he went on to compose unforgettable melodies

Hit songs of Aar Paar (1954) put Nayyar in the top league

MUSIC was an obsession with O.P. Nayyar. He became an AIR artiste at the age of 11. He was barely 17 when he composed Preetam aan milo and Kaun nagar tera door thikana, sung by his classmate C.H. Atma. The records of these were released by HMV in 1943.

Nayyar had no formal training in music and there was none in his family with a musical bent up of mind. His brothers and relatives were doctors, engineers and even judges. After trying odd jobs, Nayyar reached Bombay in 1949 to try his luck in the film industry.

Nayyar met Krishan Kewal, a producer-cum-director who was making Kaneez at that time. Ghulam Haider and Hansraj Behal were the music directors, but the work of background music was assigned to Nayyar. With Dilsukh M. Pancholi’s Aasmaan (1949), songs like Dekho jadoo bhare more nain, Dil hai deewana jawan hai zamana (Geeta Roy) and Iss bewaffa jahan mein waffa dhoondte rahe (C.H. Atma) were noticed and so was Nayyar’s musical prowess. The film, however, flopped at the box office.

Chham Chhama Chham (1952) by P.L. Santoshi was his next film, which also flopped. Then came Guru Dutt’s Baaz (1953) with which Nayyar carved a niche for himself. Talat Mahmood’s Mujhey dekho hasrat ki tasveer hoon main, Geeta Roy’s Zara saamne aaa zara aankh mila and Aye dil ae deewane turned out to charbusters.

With Guru Dutt’s Aar Paar (1954) numbers like Kabhi aar kabhi paar, Babuji dheere chalna, Hoon abhi main jawan, Ja ja ja bewaffa, and Yeh lo main hari piya in the voice of Geeta Dutt catapulted Nayyar to the top. Nayyar became a force to reckon with stalwarts like Naushad, Shankar-Jaikishan, Madan Mohan and C. Ramchandra.